The present invention generally relates to closures for containers and more particularly to tamper resistant closures for use with containers suited for food type items and other related products such as herbs, spices and the like.
Tamper resistant packaging has been used in the food industry for several years for certain products such as milk, juice, and a wide variety of other types of items which have replaceable caps that screw or snap onto a container. However, most food product packages typically include no tamper resisting means and therefore are vulnerable to tampering. These are often inexpensive items in which the added expense of tamper resistant packaging may be thought to be cost ineffective or impractable.
One example where tamper resistant or tamper evidencing containers are not typically used is in the herb and spice industry. A common type of container for spices is a rectangular metal can having a rigid plastic server lid affixed to the open end of the can. The server lid includes dispensing ports covered by flaps which are typically hinged to the base of the lid. Typically, the lid has multiple flaps covering the various dispensing ports. The dispensing ports may be in the form of sift holes for sprinkling the spice, a pour hole for pouring spice out of the container or a spoon hole for spooning a measured amount out of the container, or any combination thereof. Other common types of spice containers include a plastic container with a plastic lid that is screwed or otherwise snapped onto the open end of the container. On these types of spice containers, it also is desirable to provide multiple flaps on the lid for exposing pour holes, spoon holes and sift holes. In the spice container art, there is little or no need to remove the serving lid from the container as the flaps provide the desired access to the product inside the container. As such, it common to have the serving lid permanently affixed to the container, particularly for metal spice cans.
There have been several tamper prevention designs for spice containers attempted to date such as Foster, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,255,928, 4,361,250 and 3,251,501; and Hart, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,480. However, these designs require substantial redesign of the server lid or have certain practicality or cost drawbacks which is why these designs have not met with any or much commercial success.
A requirement for spice containers is that they are capable of being stacked for storage or display side by side and one on top of the other. Thus, the relationship between the container lid and the dimensions of the can are critical. Spice containers have a requirement of being easy to stack and capable of being stacked high without leaning and falling over when stacked in plurality. This requirement has also caused problems in tamper resistant enclosure designs for spice containers.
It has also been desired at various times to attach coupons, advertisements, short recipes or other promotional materials to the outside of the spice can for the purpose of inciting consumer interest in the product to prospective purchasers. Typically, these promotional items are plastic or paper items which are glued to the side or top of the can. However, such promotional items detract from the aesthetics and also can easily become detached from the spice container during transport or stacking on the shelves of a store. Promotional items may also interfere with spice container stacking, making the containers more susceptible to falling over. Moreover, for promotional materials such as coupons, the consumer is able to simply tear off the coupon for immediate use rather than waiting until the next purchase, which is undesirable.
It is therefore the general aim of the present invention to provide a practical and inexpensive tamper resistant closure for a spice container.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a closure which completely covers the server lid including each of the openable flaps covering dispenser ports on the server lid of the spice container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a closure element for a spice container which requires no or minimal changes to the existing server lids and containers existing out there in current use.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a better way of attaching promotional materials to spice containers.
It is another objective of the present invention to accomplish above objectives while facilitating easy stacking of multiple spice containers one on top of another and side by side.
In accordance with these and other objectives, the present invention is directed at an improved tamper resistant closure overcap for a spice container which is typically used to hold a variety of different types of spices. The spice container for which the closure overcap is intended includes a canister and a serving lid attached to the open end of the canister. The serving lid includes multiple dispensing ports which are selectively covered by openable flaps. The closure overcap generally includes a top panel which is adapted to cover the entire top face of the serving lid thereby covering each of the openable flaps. A rectangular skirt depends downwardly from the top panel and is adapted to surround the outer periphery of the serving lid. A tear away strip depends downwardly from the skirt and is connected with the skirt along a line of weakness. A ridge projects inward from the tear away strip and is adapted to engage the lid to retain the closure on the serving lid. Thus, the tear away strip is the portion of the closure overcap which performs the retaining function by engaging the lid to hold the closure overcap on the lid. The closure overcap further includes a pull tab which can be pulled to fully or partially disconnect the tear away strip from the skirt along the line of weakness.
It is an aspect of the present invention that the spice container includes a rectangular metal can and a server lid which has openable flaps hinged through a thin web to the top plate which is connected to the open end of the metal can. No modifications are required for the server lid which allows old molding dies for the serving lids to continue to be used. An anchor groove may be formed or provided in the metal can just below the server lid to facilitate anchoring of the closure overcap to the spice container. An outward annular metal bead may also be formed in the metal can proximate the anchor groove such that the closure overcap lies flush with the metal can.
It is another aspect of the present invention that the top panel of the closure overcap may be provided in spaced relationship with the top face of the lid. This provides a gap therebetween which is sufficiently large enough to receive promotional materials such as coupons, recipes and the like. The closure overcap is preferably transparent to allow consumers to identify that promotional materials exist beneath the closure overcap.
It is another aspect of the present invention that a rectangular wall is provided rising above the top panel of the closure overcap which facilitates easy vertical stacking of multiple spice containers. In particular, the rectangular support wall is adapted to fit in the cavity beneath the metal can formed as a result of a bead or seam between the bottom panel and sidewall of the metal can.